Geoffrey,Geoffrey wrote: ↑Fri Jul 08, 2022 3:59 am i don't understand how your wall surfaces can be so uneven, alan. are they solid 'breeze block' walls covered with a layer of plaster, or simply cheap gyprock covered with lining paper? i did notice the hairline cracks in the image you posted, and wondered if they were due to settlement. this sometimes happens after a while if one has unstable foundations. the cracks do not look serious, but you could ask for advice from a surveyor just to be on the safe side.
If Alan's walls gave you concern, it is best that I not post photos of some of our walls! Our exterior walls are field stone, and the insides of the walls are composed of horsehair plaster that was applied directly to the stone. Although horsehair plaster is extremely durable, cracks can and do develop over 200+ years.
At some point, probably in the mid-20th century, the house went unused for a period of years, and during that period the roof evidently leaked profusely and caused internal structural damage (the main beam in the basement probably decayed, resulting in the center of the house sinking). All was fixed by a subsequent owner (one with deep pockets I imagine), but when they raised the center portion of the house that had sunk, they stopped short of doing so completely for fear of wreaking havoc on the horsehair plaster and wood trim that had by then "adapted" to their sunken positions. The result is that most of our floors have a noticeable pitch from exterior to center, something that always surprises visitors. Old houses have quirks, and the older the house, the more the oddities. We also have a spring that flows through our basement!
We love the idea of living in rooms that were originally occupied by people who never saw a telephone or automobile--much less a television or computer--at a time when the birth of America was as recent as the fall of the Berlin Wall is to us today. Throughout Europe, of course, there are many old houses that predate ours by centuries. Old homes are much rarer here, partly because our country is still young, but mostly due to an unfortunate penchant of Americans to replace, rather than restore, old structures.
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